Legislative Aide Arrested

Police arrested the legislative aide of Del. Jackson Miller (R-Prince William) for allegedly taking part in a scuffle in the District on election night that officers describe as an anti-gay incident.

Bryan Fumagalli, 28, was arrested Nov. 22 on two counts of simple assault, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"I'm very disappointed in his actions,'' Miller said today. "He's being dealt with and being disciplined."

Police say Fumagalli assaulted one of two gay men who were walking outside the Capitol Hilton Hotel to a victory rally near the White House. They say he grabbed a rainbow flag, a gay rights symbol, from one of the men and assaulted him.

Every time I read a story such as this, it reminds me that the person doing the assualting is generally scared to death of his own hidden and secret homophobia, which simply tells me that Fumagalli may well be a gay man or have gay tendencies, but refuses to even think about that possibility or discuss it with a trusted colleague for fear of realizing it could be true. Shame on him for the assault as well as his hidden thoughts or desires. I think a slap on the wrist will not serve any purpose to correct this behavior, but rather a conversation with a gay man so Fumagalli can understand and realize that the assaulted man is 'no less a man' than he is and certainly did not 'deserve' to be assaulted simply for being gay. How would he like it if someone assaulted him because he was wearing the 'wrong color shirt'. His assault on the gay man equates to that same type mentality. Punish Fumagalli with more than a 'wrist slap' - please!

What are you offend by exactly? Are you upset because people are pointing out the obvious? A republican homophobe probably gay himself, assaults two gay guys on the night a Democrat was elected president and the Democrats took over a greater share of the government. Please point out the offensive part that the Washingtonpost actually did.

Gay Republicans..... kind of like chickens for Col. Sanders... Sorry if some folks find that offensive, but when are moderates of all stripes, gay or straight, going to stand up to the vicious, divisive tactics that are at the heart of the so called "mobilize the base" tactics of the Lee Attwater Karl Rove style campaigns. The dirty little secret of American politics is that the modern Republican party was built on a foundation of profound racial hatred. Reagan walked through the door that had been opened by Goldwater and Nixon, (see new book Nixonland). The "southern strategy". By kicking off his campaign in Philadelphia , Mississippi RR invited the southern racists and bigots into the party. All of the leaders of the Gop in the southern party in the early years were well known for racism, David Duke. Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond. The anti gay hate is a variation of a theme, cover a class war against the middle and working class with the smoke screen of values issues and fake super patriotism (flag pins, pledge of allegiance etc) Just another example of how fundamentally bankrupt and out of touch the GOP is today. If they keep up the hate and clinging to failed broken economic policies they will become firmly identified by younger voters as the party of ignorant, bitter, old white rednecks. And polling shows with each passing election fewer and fewer young voter self identify as GOP. Instead of being offended by folks who post comments, Moderate GOPers need to check their hole card and figure out if they are going to step up to the plate and fight for their party or are they going to go along with the political and religious fundamentalist that have taken over the modern GOP.

Well, that was one of the shortest political careers on record. He'll never make the short list for an important job since he's proven that at 28, he's still a child. Although it appears he took his Facebook profile down, he'll always be immortalized on Google. Not even the backbone to defend his own bigotry...